MQ chief executive to step down

MQ has today announced that Cynthia Joyce, chief executive officer, will be stepping down in the coming year to return to the United States.

Cynthia has served as chief executive since MQ opened it's doors with the backing of a start-up grant from the Wellcome Trust.

Building the charity from scratch, she oversaw establishment of the infrastructure needed to support national and international grant-making, fundraising and communications. MQ has now committed over £6m in grants to more than 25 researchers working around the world on mental health questions.

This year, MQ launched ‘We Swear', a national campaign to raise awareness of the need for mental health research. The campaign invites the public to join MQ in taking on mental illness by supporting 'Brighter Futures' a new research initiative focused on young people’s mental health.

Moving from strength to strength, MQ is firmly on course to more than treble its annual voluntary income in 2017 and aims to make mental health research an established cause in the UK in the years to come.

As ardent advocates for transformative research, Cynthia and the rest of the team have ensured that MQ’s work addresses a major gap around public support and charitable investment in mental health research. Looking ahead, Cynthia is returning to the US to be closer to family and will continue to support MQ and mental health research advocacy from New York.

MQ Chairman Sir Philip Campbell said: “Cynthia’s dedication and commitment to mental health research has been critical in making MQ the ground-breaking charity that it is today. Thanks to her leadership, we are now in a position to move on to a new level of activity focused on even more ambitious fundraising and research goals. We will be fortunate indeed to have her continued support in the years ahead…”

UPDATE: The MQ Board has appointed Perrett Laver to conduct recruitment of a new chief executive. Click here for more information on the position.